Bella Boo @ Lux Frágil (09/02/24)

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In an attempt to make the most of my last weekend in Lisbon before going on the road again, I hatched a plan to go to three parties last night. First, at midnight I would head to Outra Cena aka the OC to see Hiroma Keo doing the warm-up on This Side, the tall room with the giant moon-shaped light fitting that I’ve described before. Then, around 2.30am, I would head to Lux to see Bella Boo, who it turns out was scheduled to play the disco only two weeks after I came across her RA mix from 2022 (I wrote about that here). That is the kind of coincidence you shouldn’t ignore and I was determined to check her out. Then I was going to see if my legs would take me to Planeta Manas for Shcuro and Photonz’s party No UFOs, as far as I can tell the only regular electro night that’s ever existed in Lisbon and this weekend featuring Jensen Interceptor. JI played at one of the best parties I’ve ever been to in Lisbon, called Periferia, which took place in the old Nada Temple before the pandemic, and I was keen to check out what he’s doing five years later.

Of course this plan was ambitious. If something had to give, it was probably No UFOs, though I did also entertain the idea of just skipping Lux and going straight from the OC to Manas. Lux is always a bit of a palaver and you can never quite predict how challenging the crowd is going to be. Will there be so many people you can’t move your arms for fear of elbowing someone? Will there be enough fabulous gays front-right to protect you from all the drunk straights? Will João Botelho be there, flailing around like a madman in front of the speakers? Well, that last part at least is something you can rely on. Luckily for me I don’t have to worry too much about the door, though that doesn’t stop me from always being nervous as I approach the imposing building. I will also admit to being a bit nervous about what Bella Boo was going to play — as I said in my write-up of her RA mix, I felt a really strong affinity with the first half of the selection and the way she put it together, but was less into the more obvious bigger-room stuff in the second half. What if she leaned into that latter sound at the expense of a more nuanced and interesting vibe?